JetBlue Switcheroo Sends 5-Year-Olds to Wrong Cities

Mom Maribel Martinez is now suing the airline
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 2, 2016 6:20 AM CDT
JetBlue Switcheroo Sends 5-Year-Olds to Wrong Cities
Maribel Martinez holds a photo of her son at her attorney's office in Brooklyn on Thursday.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A 5-year-old bound for Boston ended up in New York, and another bound for New York ended up in Boston last month when JetBlue mixed them up. Maribel Martinez says she was supposed to meet her son, Andy, at New York's JFK Airport after his flight from the Dominican Republic—where he'd been staying with relatives—on Aug. 17, but was instead presented with another boy carrying Andy's passport. "I was freaking out," Martinez, who says she paid a $100 fee to have a JetBlue representative take Andy to his plane, tells the New York Daily News. "I thought he was kidnapped. I thought I would never see him again." Three hours later, Martinez learned there had been a switcheroo.

Both boys were flying out of the Dominican Republic when the mixup occurred. JetBlue says it's investigating what happened, per NBC News, adding that it "immediately took steps to assist the children in reaching their correct destinations." The statement notes that "while the children were always under the care and supervision of JetBlue crew members, we realize this situation was distressing for their families." Distressing is an understatement, says Martinez, who's suing JetBlue for negligence. "I still haven't stopped crying," she says. JetBlue says it apologized to both families, refunded their flights, and gave them about $2,000 in credit. (More JetBlue stories.)

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